(CNN) - The House Ethics Committee announced Monday it was extending its investigation into allegations that Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers violated House rules and federal campaign laws by using official staff to perform political work for her re-election campaign.

McMorris Rodgers is the fourth-ranking House Republican. Viewed as a rising star in a party that has struggled to gain support among women voters, she was tapped by House Speaker John Boehner earlier this year to give the GOP response to President Barack Obama's State of the Union address.

Along with its announcement, the Ethics Committee released a report by the independent Office of Congressional Ethics outlining the allegations against McMorris Rodgers. It details instances when aides from her congressional office helped her prepare for campaign debates and wrote news releases and speeches specifically for political events. The OCE report also found that an outside campaign consultant who was on McMorris Rodger's political payroll provided services for her office, such as preparing her for events after her election and interviewing candidates for jobs on her official staff.FULL POST

Washington (CNN) - Vice President Joe Biden reflected on his career in politics and what he sees as the fight against cynicism as the keynote speaker at an award ceremony for political reporting in Washington Monday.

The Toner Prize celebration dinner is held in honor of the late Robin Toner, the first woman to be named national political correspondent for The New York Times, who died in 2008.

"When talking to Robin, I always knew it wasn't a cynical exercise for her. It wasn't score-keeping. She knew the outcome of the election affected real people's lives and that's why she held us accountable," Biden said of Toner, who covered five presidential elections and many other federal races during her reporting career.FULL POST

CNN's GUT CHECK | for March 24, 2014 | 5 p.m.
– n. a pause to assess the state, progress or condition of the political news cycle

BREAKING … NO G8 IN SOCHI:The leaders of the G7 countries met in The Hague Monday and condemned the actions of Russia in Crimea. The White House released a statement from the G7 countries: “We will suspend our participation in the G8 until Russia changes course and the environment comes back to where the G8 is able to have a meaningful discussion and will meet again in G7 format at the same time as planned, in June 2014, in Brussels, to discuss the broad agenda we have together.”

(CNN) - Attorneys hired by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s office have found no evidence linking him to “plotting or directing” traffic jams at the foot of the George Washington Bridge that are at the center of a political scandal roiling his administration, the New York Times reported.

A state legislative investigative committee and the U.S. Attorney’s office are looking into whether the tie-ups in Fort Lee were set in motion deliberately by top Christie appointees to punish that town’s Democratic mayor for not endorsing the Republican’s reelection.

Washington (CNN) – Hoping to galvanize attention on a hot issue in an election year, House Democrats will launch a formal petition on Wednesday aimed at forcing a vote on comprehensive immigration reform, according to multiple senior Democratic aides.

The legislative maneuver is called a "discharge petition" and has become the recent weapon of choice for Democrats in the congressional chamber where Republicans call the shots.

Washington (CNN) - Mitt Romney seems to be popping up everywhere this year.

The 2012 Republican presidential nominee and two-time White House hopeful made a Sunday talk show appearance, criticizing President Barack Obama's handling of the crisis in Ukraine, this weekend, the sixth major TV interview Romney's done so far this year.

In her keynote address, Clinton praised Bush's dedication to education reform since serving two terms as governor of Florida, where he overhauled the state's education system, introducing a school voucher program and banning using race as a factor in university admissions.

To support an argument that the New Jersey select committee on investigation does have the ability to grant someone immunity, the attorney representing Chris Christie’s campaign manager included in dozens of pieces of supportive evidence an article from the New York Times penned in 1895.

The Hague, Netherlands (CNN) - Hours before the launch of the third Nuclear Security Summit set to begin Monday in The Hague, the White House announced an agreement with the government of Japan to assist in the disposal of hundreds of kilograms of nuclear material currently stored within its borders.

The material in question consists of both highly enriched uranium and separated plutonium created for an academic research project launched by the Japan Atomic Energy Agency in the 1960's. Technological advances have since rendered the material unnecessary for the project's purpose of studying fast reactor cores, and the two countries have pledged to work together on its removal and disposal.